24 August 2004

Flat tyre

First *horrifying* experience of a flat tyre on the M5 yesterday….
My poor nerves! Cars & trucks whooshing past at 110kph as we put on spare tyre….
Then the (mild) embarrassment of having to drive at 80kph the rest of the way into Sydney due to silly excuse for a spare tyre that car manufacturers give you these days*. Suprisingly, given Sydney's many impatient, intolerant "why the hell aren't you doing at least the speed limit?" bumper hugging drivers, I only got half-honked at once!!

Couldn’t help but think “that’d be right” when my tyre went flat. Funny that – you feel flat, then you get a flat tyre – kind of like your energy materialising itself in an event. If these are the rules of the universe, whatever can I expect to happen next?!!!

* spare tyre is smaller and harder than normal wheel, and you can only travel at 80 kph and for a certain distance. ie the spare tyre is only designed to get you as far as a tyre shop. Really irritating if you don’t have time to deal with it on the day your tyre chooses to get a puncture and go flat. As Cheese says, cars are evil, expensive pieces of junk.

17 August 2004

Sometimes you astound yourself with your philosophical revelations, sometimes you slice through sociological phenomena with cutting satire.

Sometimes you are just plain shallow....

On the weekend, I saw a couple lunching out with matching white pants and tops. All white, but clearly not sportswear to do with lawn bowls or tennis. Matching is the sort of thing we might do by accident and get mildly embarrassed about. Very coordinated weekend leisure wear. Very sickening.

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By the way, here is a cool link if you are at all concerned about the Sydney rainfall situation. These data are taken from electronic rain gauges, so not as accurate as human-checked, but still gives you an idea of what is falling where. Note that Camden in the south-west (close to the waragamba dam area) always gets less rain than nearer to the coast. Sad, sad days for Sydney Basin's amenity horticulture, fruit and veg producers. However, you will be pleased to hear that recycled water is getting trialled by my campus, and is used to water the public grounds in the new cul-de-sac-ridden housing estates out this way.

I think this year's Australian Idle (sic) finalists should do a remake of Toto's 80's hit single: "Bless the rain down in Africa", with an Australian twist to the lyrics of course.

06 August 2004

Thwarted by bureaucracy, Australian style

Was wondering if anyone else has been thwarted by bureaucracy recently? You know, you have something in mind for the benefit of everyone, and you start to make enquiries about how to go about it. It seems possible, so you proceed, only to find out part way through that some other person/department needs to be involved. Suddenly, things get way more complex than they need to be, and after much effort (you persist only on principle), the decision about your original idea/approach finally comes back :
- NO, or
- Yes, but you’ll have to do a, b, c,….z in order for this to happen

A friend who works for a large, Australian company was recently thwarted by bureaucracy in an attempt to get a door opening in the opposite direction in the Mens toilets in his office. He had everyone’s health and safety in mind. What could simply have been $200 unscrewing and rescrewing of hinges, turned out to be a $2000 internal services quote that was, not surprisingly, knocked back.

(I have lots of similar things happening around me, but not so interesting to tell).

04 August 2004

State of mind

Unsettled about: reaching the half way point of my contract, and not really knowing where I’ll be in 6 months time

Exhilarated about: feeling fit for the first time in years… the power in my arms and legs as I do laps, muscles reasserting their place in my body

Blissful about: life every day with the person I’m with (awww - but it's true!)

Calmed by: the beautiful cliffs, rainforest and forest I walked around on the weekend

Sated by: all the rich, yummy food I ate whilst away. It’ll have to be back to the food basics for a few days now…

Annoyed by: the fussy eater I sat next to at the fantastic BBQ lunch, put on by the students today, who felt the need to comment about everything... (ooh - I wouldn't like that.... oh, I don't think I'll eat any more of that - anyone else want mine?.... What do you call this stuff then?)

Pleased about: balancing up all the biological science based-learning I’ve done by reading the occasional non-fiction book.

Wondering about: which craft, cause or hobby I might take up next?

Thrilled for: a family who have just had their visa extended by a year, who have handled every set back with grace, counted their blessings, survived on shakey work contracts, and managed to hold together a family of 3 children who are rapidly becoming little Australians and wouldn’t remember much about “home” if they had to go back there.